


Slime + Ink

by skystrom



Series: Comfortember 2020 [2]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: 5+1 Scenario, Caring Jack Dalton (MacGyver TV 2016), DSX Days, Fluff, Gen, Light Angst, Mentions of other characters - Freeform, in the first scenario at least, theyre there in spirit, when doesnt he care
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:20:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27813697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skystrom/pseuds/skystrom
Summary: Jack realized pretty early on that Mac always needed something. Whether it be something to distract him or something he needed to help finish his projects.(Or 5 times Jack is there to give Mac something he needs and 1 time he isn’t.)
Relationships: Jack Dalton & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016)
Series: Comfortember 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2019968
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	Slime + Ink

**Author's Note:**

> Obviously Jack’s always carrying around paperclips for Mac but I personally love the idea that he carries around random junk in case Mac ever needs it for something. 
> 
> Warnings: little bit a swearing  
> Prompts: fidgeting/jacket

Twenty-three hours into this surveillance mission, Mac had run out of paper clips and, unfortunately for Jack, found a pen and immediately started clicking it.

Jack was a very patient person (even if he likes others to think he isn’t), you gotta be in order to be a truly professional sniper. That being said, he snapped after about three minutes.

“Mac, I am _this close_ to smackin’ you upside the head.”

Mac stopped at Jack’s statement and glared at him before flipping the pen in his hand…and biting the tip. Jack sighed, glad he was no longer hearing the clicking (even if Mac’s pen chewing is still a little noisy).

They sat in (mostly) silence for the next few minutes, Jack trying to do the job and Mac still eating his pen. That didn’t last too long either, seeing as the pen Mac was chewing on burst and filled his mouth ink. Jack looked at him in amusement as Mac sputtered, reaching for one of the water bottles in the cup holders. 

“Jesus, kid. I know you’re bored outta your mind but do you really need to poison yourself?”

Mac opened the door to the car and spit out his watery-ink mixture and closed the door. He glanced at Jack and wiped his mouth, which is still black, “Sorry. Guess I’m going a little stir crazy.”

“No shit.”

Jack sighed once more before reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a packet of tissues that he handed to Mac. The ink-stained blond took it and wiped at the ink he just painted his hand with.

“Sorry. For blowin’ up at ya. We’ve been here for a day, I’m tired, and our intel must’ve been wrong cause the guy didn’t even _show up_!” Jack sighed yet again as Mac dabbed at his mouth, “How mad you think Patty’ll be if we left?”

“Probably pissed,” Mac said before attempting to remove the ink from his tongue.

“Yeah, well,” Jack sighed (yes, again) and dropped his head onto the steering wheel before quickly bringing it back up with a look of determination on his face, “She’ll just have to send somebody else out here to waste their time.”

Jack started the car and took off while Mac protested with a tissue in his mouth. 

* * *

Jack sees that look in Mac’s eye. The one he gets when he’s about to run off and start making something out of random junk. And that’s exactly what he does. 

Mac runs out the back door of the restaurant and Jack follows him, not surprised to see the younger man digging around in one of the dumpsters. 

“If you’re that hungry, they got fresh food inside the place, hoss.”

Mac ignores Jack and continues rummaging in the dumpster, throwing things back just as much as he is keeping things. He looks to his partner and Jack gets the idea just before Mac starts tossing him some of the things he dug out. 

“You mind telling me what your plan here is?”

“Would you listen if I told you?”

Jack shakes his head, “Probably not, no.”

Mac gives Jack a look and carries on with excavating. He stops for a moment and jumps out to the next dumpster before he starts his digging again. 

“Jack.”

“Huh?”

“I need something to, uh, to inflate. Kinda like a balloon but it doesn’t have to be exactly like it. Just, something to blow air into and tie off at the end.”

“Right, yeah. I know how a balloon functions.”

Mac ignores Jack’s snark and the older agent turns to search for the requested item in the restaurant itself when an idea strikes him.

“Would a condom work?”

Mac pauses, “Yeah, that’d work.”

Jack moves the junk to his other hand and reaches into his back pocket and pulls out the aforementioned condom, handing it to Mac. Mac looks at the condom and looks at Jack. “Why…?”

Jack smirks and raises his eyebrows suggestively. 

Mac shakes his head, “Never mind. Don’t need to know.”

* * *

Mac still had a few more weeks of recovery ahead of him. The PT was going well and the burns on his hands seemed like they wouldn't scar too bad, if at all.

Despite all the progress he’d made, it was still a struggle to move his hands. And for Mac, that was torture. 

Bending his fingers too quickly is painful and some objects are rough against his still healing skin. It all made Mac upset and Jack could see just how upsetting it was. 

They were sitting on Mac’s couch, Jack pretending to watch a movie while he sneakily eyed Mac as the man in question got lost in his own head. His fingers seemed to twitch even more now that they were hurting and Jack knew Mac would do anything for some kind of distraction. 

So, the delta reached into his pocket and pulled out a mesh stress ball. He’d put it in there while at the store, fully intending to buy it but completely forgetting it was there and ending up stealing it; he’d picked it up with the intent of giving it to Mac at some point. He’d have bought it for himself but the six he had at home worked just fine. 

Jack reached over for Mac’s hand and gently turned it over to place the ball in his palm. Mac gave him a tired look but started squeezing the ball. He continued squeezing after several moments and once Jack realized he’d done good, he turned back to the movie, glancing at Mac occasionally to see him still slowly squishing the ball.

Not even thirty minutes go by before a faint _pop!_ sounded from the general area of Mac and something warm and slimy smacked Jack in the face. Jack looked over to his partner to see a trail of green slime inching down his face from his hair, his eyes squeezed shut, and a now deflated stress ball in his hands. 

“Mac.”

“Sorry.”

* * *

Jack pops out of cover, getting three shots off before the guys on the other side of the warehouse get a few shots off themselves and he falls back behind the box he and Mac are using for protection. 

“Anytime now, Mac!” 

“Working on it!” Mac is very clearly working on it. Jack isn’t sure the exact details of what “it” is but he was promised something explosive and that’s all he needs. 

The firefight continues as Mac takes his time building his makeshift bomb. He looks up at hearing the _click_ of Jack’s now empty gun. That was the last clip too.

“ _Mac!_ ”

“Just another second!”

The goons are still firing their weapons from their places scattered about the “abandoned” building but they’re likely to realize soon that the dudes who interrupted their illegal activities have stopped firing back. 

“Okay, okay. Done!” Mac says as a bullet ricochets past his head. He reaches behind him to the matchbook he planned to use to light. “Oh, dammit.”

“What? What’s the problem?”

Mac picks up the matchbook, soaking wet after it had managed to land in a small puddle of water, now completely useless. The pair look at each other and Jack’s a little worried at the slight fear in Mac’s eyes. The bullet storm from the baddies has all but ended and then Jack remembers.

He frantically goes for one of his inner jacket pockets and pulls out several loose matches, quickly handing them to Mac. Mac is surprised and he loses that scared look as he lights one.

“The moment I throw this, run.”

“Don’t gotta tell me twice, hoss.”

* * *

It was unfortunate how used to the scents and sounds of a hospital they were. It practically came with the job, being in a hospital waiting room if not the hospital bed itself. 

Riley had been shot. She was currently in surgery and the doctor who’d talked to the two other agents had assured them that if all went well, she would be fine. 

Jack remained worried, of course. It was his job to worry, after all. Mac was worried too but it was obvious by his pacing he was feeling guilty as well. 

Riley had shielded him from the bullet. It was supposed to hit him. Now she was the one in surgery, getting a bullet removed from her back when it should’ve been him. She didn’t deserve this. 

Jack had been watching him like a hawk the whole time. Mac knew he was making him worry, which just made him feel worse. He shouldn’t be making Jack worry about both his kids, especially when one was more deserving of that worry than the other. Mac's unhealthy train of thought came to a stop when Jack spoke up.

“Hey, Mac.” Jack motioned to the seat next to him and Mac sat down, avoiding eye contact. 

They sat in silence for a moment before Jack reached into his front pocket and pulled out a paperclip. He moved it in front of Mac’s face, making sure he saw it, before he started talking again. 

“I’m willing to bet that there’s no way in hell you can bend this into…the Eiffel Tower.”

Mac scoffed, “Jack, you’ve seen me do it before.”

“The hell I have!”

“You have! We were in Paris trying to take down that arms dealer, remember?”

“Nope. Not ringing any bells.”

Jack smiled and Mac smiled back. The younger agent knew what his partner was up to and Jack knew he knew. Mac took the paperclip, happy to be distracted, and started bending it. 

* * *

It was their first mission without Jack.

If anyone had noticed that the jacket Mac was wearing was Jack’s, no one acknowledged it. 

It was a little too big on him, but that was okay. It was comforting, in a way. It felt like Jack was still there. Still protecting him. 

During their mission, Mac had made a mistake. He hadn’t been able to focus properly since…well. A man had come at with a knife and Mac froze. Luckily for him, Desi actually took her job seriously.

A good helping of blood had landed on Mac and therefore also on the jacket. 

Mac didn’t want to wash the jacket. It still smelled like gunpowder and leather. Like Jack. But it was also starting to smell like blood and Mac was sure Jack wouldn’t be too happy about a bloodied jacket when he came back.

If he came back. 

He’d made up his mind and decided to wash the jacket. Mac knew from experience that putting something in the wash before checking the pockets could lead to some kind of catastrophe, so he decided to empty out the pockets. 

Mac opened the zipper of one of the inner pockets and pulled out a folded piece of paper, simply labeled _Mac_. The man in question looked at it curiously, flipping it over and back before he folded it open. 

_Hey Mac,_

_I’m sorry I broke my promise. You should know that I didn’t want to leave if I didn’t have to. I know this seems like something I don’t have to leave for but, trust me, I do. Irregardless, my place will always be by your side. And don’t you worry, I promise I’ll be back as quick as I can. If you’ll have me, of course. Tell the others I love them._

_Love you kid,_

_Jack_

Mac wondered if Jack had anticipated Mac taking his clothes or if this was something he was supposed to read at all. 

Either way, the short note brought some comfort to Mac, like his partner was still checking up on him despite his absence.

Mac slipped the note in his back pocket and put the jacket in the wash, a smile of his face. 

**Author's Note:**

> I had a lot of fun with this one and I can absolutely think of more instances where things like this would happen. Makes me want to write another one of these but eehhhhh we’ll see. 
> 
> Anyway thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed :)


End file.
